Tim Tai

Yale New Haven Health will end a program that sends visiting nurses to the homes of at-risk mothers, seniors, homebound patients and a local homeless center.

Last Monday, YNHH announced that its Nurse Family Partnership and Wellness program will not renew contracts with surrounding towns. According to State Sen. Martha Marx, services to impacted communities will end in June, resulting in the loss of approximately eight union jobs.

The Nurse Family Partnership sends nurses to conduct home visits for at-risk pregnant mothers, following the family from pregnancy to when the baby is 3 years old. The wellness program also provides nursing services to a homeless hospitality center, senior centers and home visit services for homebound patients. For now, there is no clear plan for who will take over these services.

“Yale New Haven Health’s decision to end its Nurse Family Partnership contracts and wellness services is one seeking short-term gain at the expense of long-term community pain,” Marx, state senate vice chair of the public health committee and a career visiting nurse, said in a statement. “The federal government working to slash important programs is bad enough. For Yale to cut them further in our backyard is going to worsen already severe impacts.”

Yale New Haven Health did not respond to a request for comment for the News.

A YNHH spokesperson told NBC Connecticut that “any decision to change a service that has been provided to the community and involves employees is extremely difficult, but we need to focus on our core mission of caring for our patients in hospital and home settings.”

“While we respect Yale New Haven Health’s decision to realign its priorities, we are focused on advocating for the continuity of care for families in New Haven,” Olivia Biggs, public relations manager for Nurse Family Partnership program, wrote to the News. “Home visiting programs like NFP are vital in supporting positive outcomes for children and families, and we will continue working to preserve and strengthen these critical services.”

Leslie Sude, Yale associate professor of pediatrics, said that these types of programs are vital for introducing concepts such as play and relational activities, as well as promoting positive, resilient and attached relationships between parents and their children.

Sude explained that visiting nurse programs are “excellent” for teaching parents about healthy relationships with their children and general parent education.

“I think it will leave a hole in the ecosystem of services that are available to families right now, and it would certainly be my hope that that gap can be filled in through other service providers,” Sude said.

YNHH is located at 20 York St.